Elevators typically use countervailing weights in order to facilitate a passenger cabin moving up and down an elevator shaft in large office buildings, hospitals, factories and similar structures. These types of elevators require a great deal of space, maintenance, equipment and machinery. More recently, a new type of elevator has been developed known as a vacuum elevator system. This elevator uses air pressure to cause the motion of the cabin within a thoroughfare or tubular cylinder that uses the air within it as a working fluid upon the confines of the cabin. Brakes, motors, valves, electronic controls and other equipment work in concert to ensure a safe and pleasant riding experience for each occupant therein.
Modern elevator cabins use a liner attached to a structural plate of the cabin to facilitate the transfer from one position to another within an elevator cylinder. For Example, FIG. 1A presents a view of a prior art rubber liner used to attach to a cabin plate. A completed liner 1 is shown in the figure; it is an extruded group of components that are attached together with U shaped connectors 3 at various intervals. The U shaped connectors 3 are similarly rubber extrusions and are attached at regular intervals connecting each component using the two upper ends of the U; one upper end of the U to an end of a first component and the other upper end of the U to an end of a second component. This process is completed until a ring is formed completing the liner 1. A bumper 2 is integral with the liner components and forms a horizontal uniform arc across the side of each component as in FIG. 1A.
FIG. 1B presents a side view of a prior art liner having a bumper having a uniform linear pattern. This view shows a prior art liner 1 having a bumper 2 that is shaped in a linear pattern (from this perspective) and is extruded integrally with the components of the liner 1.
FIG. 1C presents a view of a prior art liner having a bumper using a linear pattern as it is attached to a cabin plate. Here the liner 1 components are attached to an external side of a cabin plate 4 using adhesives so that the bumper 2 is disposed radially outwards and away from the cabin plate so that it can impact an elevator cylinder internal surface. The U shaped connectors 3 are also attached to U shaped depressions using adhesives in the cabin plate to ensure a proper engagement of the liner 1 with the cabin plate 4.
FIG. 1D presents a side view of a prior art elevator cylinder 5 having a cabin inserted therein where the cabin has a liner 1 having a bumper 2 and connectors 3 such that the back of the liner 1 components and connectors is attached to a cabin plate 4 that is integral with the cabin in an embodiment disclosed herein.
One of the problems with this type of system is that the prior art liner 1 bumpers 2 are straight when viewed in some perspectives; for example, from the side of the liner 1 as shown in FIG. 1B. Of course, in FIG. 1A, 1C this is shown to be a horizontal circumferential continuous feature otherwise known as an arc.
This presents a problem for the cabin in that there is a rough transition from one location to another as the liner 1 and its associated bumpers 2 grip the inner surface of the elevator cylinder and do not permit a smooth transition from one section of an elevator cylinder portion to another elevator cylinder portion. Further, there is noise within the cabin that is unpleasant to cabin passengers as another consequence of the side viewed linear bumpers 2 that form an arc in a perspective view.
Accordingly, there needs to be some solutions to overcome the aforementioned problems.